2000 Press Releases

NBAA Supports White House Plan to Stop Degrading GPS Accuracy

Washington, DC, May 5, 2000 - The National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) strongly
supports recent action taken by President Clinton to discontinue the intentional degradation
of Global Positioning System (GPS) signal accuracy.

Beginning at midnight on May 1, the United States stopped the intentional degradation of
the GPS signals available to the public. The White House refers to this degradation feature
as selective availability (SA), and this removal of SA means that civilian users of GPS now
are able to pinpoint locations up to 10 times more accurately with existing GPS receivers.
GPS is a dual-use, satellite-based system that provides accurate location and navigation data
to users worldwide. The original White House press release, dated May 1, is available on the
Web at www.whitehouse.gov/library.

In response to the White House initiative, NBAA President Jack Olcott stated, "The President’s
decision to discontinue selective availability increases the value of GPS navigation systems
presently installed onboard aircraft. Pilots will now have more accurate representations of
actual aircraft positions."

Olcott also noted, "The decision to deactivate selective availability comes six years
earlier than planned by the Department of Defense, and we applaud this decision to accelerate
the deactivation timeline because it will enhance worldwide navigation. NBAA will closely
monitor how the FAA will adapt to the new GPS environment."

NBAA represents the aviation interests of over 6,100 companies which own or operate
general aviation aircraft as an aid to the conduct of their business, or are involved with
business aviation. NBAA Member Companies earn annual revenues approaching $5 trillion —
a number that is about half the gross domestic product — and employ more than 19 million
people worldwide. The NBAA Annual Meeting & Convention is the world's largest display
of civil aviation products and services.